Despite the press of the Christmas crazies, a large audience took time out to come to The New York Horticultural Society, affectionately known as The Hort, on West 37th Street to hear my talk about my book. Many of the people in the audience had been to Barnsley House and some had met Rosemary. Others knew of her many books. So it was a great pleasure to be able to speak about Rosemary, particularly given her own extraordinary library of gardening books, in the setting of the superb library of The Hort. It was also very special to acknowledge the extraordinary program The Hort conducts on Riker’s Island, teaching prisoners horticultural skills that they can and do use when they leave prison. This was particularly relevant to the part of my talk where I refer to the film Greenfingers, discussed in the book and starring Helen Mirren whom I interviewed. The film tells the true story of an English lady very much like Rosemary Verey who did much the same thing teaching prisoners in England – these prisoners eventually won a gold medal for a model garden they designed for the Hampton Court Palace garden show. I encourage everyone to see this film, based on the story originally written for the New York Times by Paula Deitz which inspired the movie.
